44 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



gathered by scraping the walls : it excretes upon the 

 aperture to be closed ; a much more economical pro- 

 ceeding. Sparingly measured out, the rations must not 

 be wasted : there is just enough to live upon. Besides, 

 the cement is of better quality ; it soon sets. Lastly, 

 the urgent repairs are more quickly effected, if the 

 intestines lend their kindly aid. 



They do, in point of fact, and to an astonishing degree. 

 Five, six times in succession and oftener, I remove 

 the fixed plug ; and, time after time, the mortar dis- 

 charges a copious ejaculation from its apparently in- 

 exhaustible reservoir, which is ever at the mason's 

 service, without an interval for rest. The grub is already 

 beginning to resemble the Sacred Beetle, whose stercoral 

 prowess we know : it is a past master in the art of dunging. 

 It possesses above any other animal in the world an 

 intestinal deftness which anatomy will undertake to ex- 

 plain to us, partly, later on. 



The plasterer and the mason have their trowels. In 

 the same way, the grub, that zealous repairer of breaches 

 made in its home, has a trowel of its own. The last seg- 

 ment is lopped off slantwise, and carries on its dorsal 

 surface a sort of inclined plane, a broad disk surrounded 

 by a fleshy pad. In the middle of the disk is a gash, 

 forming the cementmg-aperture. Behold the fair-sized 

 trowel, flattened out and supplied with a rim to prevent 

 the compressed matter from flowing away in useless 

 waste. 



As soon as the plastic gush is laid down in a lump, 

 the levelling and compressing instrument sets to work to 

 introduce the cement well into the irregularities of the 

 breach, to push it right through the thickness of the ruined 

 portion, to give it consistency, to level it. After this 



